E-Democracy Meets
E-Journalism
How the Net can support local
and state governance and
citizen engagement.
Steven Clift,
Founder and Board Chair
E-Democracy.Org
e-democracy.org

Outline
• Introduction
• 30+ Examples, 30 Seconds Each
• Questions:
– What’s so essential that …
– Will it really make …
e-democracy.org

Hello
•It all started in 1994 …
•Government by day,
citizen by night …
e-democracy.org

A new Athens for Democracy?
e-democracy.org

“News”
•Timely access to
information so you can:
–Know “what’s new” or what
someone else thinks is important
–Be informed
–Be entertained
–Take action and influence what
happens next
e-democracy.org

The Intelligence is on the Network
•Shared my assignment
with 4,000+ people
•Are you aware of sites that
do X or Y?
–30+ Examples
e-democracy.org

E-Alerts
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E-mail
notices in
St. Paul
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Digital Recording and Webcasting
Oregon and San
Francisco require
recording of all
public meetings by
law. Search “Kimo
Crossman”.
Rule of law – See
“Sidewalks for
Democracy
Online.” Need to
require what is
most important.
What is?
e-democracy.org

Miami Input on Strategic Plan
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Taskforce and Committee Tools
Need for tools for
commissions and
task forces –
WordPress Blog
example used by a
sanitation district in
Oregon
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Government Spending Information
State list
maintained by
Center for
Fiscal
Accountability
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Stimulus/Recovery Transparency
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Accountability
• Deep Transparency – Yalova, Turkey
They provided access to:
•Council decisions
•Immediate flow of incomes
•Daily flow of expenditures
•Municipal Tenders
•Citizen applications and
document follow-up
•Wealth Declaration -
Increase/decrease of income
and wealth of top officials
(on left)
•US – FederalSpending.Gov
•Poland – FOI Laws Require
Budget Information Online
e-democracy.org

Alberta Gov’s Web Feeds
• Those little
orange
icons
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DC Direct Data Sharing, Mashup
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Oakland Crime Data from Police
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“Scrape and Bake” Crime Data
City responds
with its own
e-alert tool.
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Reusing Local Gov/Other Data
• Everyblock.com
– http://everyblock.com
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Gov Data Reuse – UtahsRight.com
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MN DNR Lake Finder Multi Sources
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Democracy/Consultation Portal
• Queensland’s democracy portal, policy - AU
– http://www.moundsviewschools.org
• Ask Bristol Consultation and Webcasting - UK 22
– http://www.askbristol.com
e-democracy.org

Legislative Online Public
Hearings in Brazil
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E-Rulemaking
• Democratized
navigation
• DOT Provides
Public Access to
Comments
Live
Video
• Regulations.Gov
should
e-democracy.org

Schools and Online Engagement
• Moundsview Public Schools
– http://www.moundsviewschools.org
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Schools and Online Engagement
26
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Live Rural Villages Town
Meeting, India –
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Right to Petition Government
• What is the Magna Carta’s
expression in 2007?
• U.S. petitioning mostly
about e-mail acquisition
for advocacy not listening
or redress of grievences
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E-Petitions Hosted by Gov in UK
7+ percent of British population have signed an e-petition here
• UK Prime Minister’s E-Petitions
– http://petitions.number10.gov.uk
– Kingston upon Thames
– http://www.kingston.gov.uk/information/your_council/epetitions.htm
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Community Wiki
• Kickapoo Valley, WI – Kickapedia
http://kickapedia.wiki.zoho.com/Kickapedia-Home.html
• DC Gov We the People Wiki
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Maps, Camera, Mobile, Action
• FixMyStreet.com (UK) – mySociety.Org
– http://fixmystreet.com
e-democracy.org 31

SeeClickFix – MySociety.Org Inspired
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Congressional Tweets, Sunlight
Foundation
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Deep Access and Accountability
• Estonia’s Today I Decide, Document
Register, X-Road (below)
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E-mail Transparency in Palo Alto
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Gov Voter Guides in Korea
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Mobile Photos to Enforce
Anti-Corruption Election Laws
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Local “Everywhere”
• AmericanTowns.com
– Scrape Millions of
Local Events
• Topix .net
– Host online news
comments
• Virtual Ghost
Towns? Civil War?
• http://pages.e-democracy.org
– search“social
media”
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Changed.Gov? Need Democracy.Gov
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Citizens Online
•With my E-Democracy.Org
hat on…
•Citizen engagement –
community building as
outcome v. “news”
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Private Spaces with “Public”
Qualities – v. Online Public Spaces
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Need Public Spaces – Online
Versions of Town Halls, Capitols
• Online public spaces,
not just “public”
commercial spaces
• Need for decorum,
civility, agenda-
setting, relevance,
accountability
<- The Minnesota
Capitol Rotunda
e-democracy.org

Blogofest
Destiny?
• Blogs democratize
media, provide
accountability
• Compared to forums,
most are highly
individualistic often
privately controlled
spaces with some
dialogue
• Need own blog to
join the e-ristocracy
e-democracy.org

Divided We Blog?
Source:
The Political Blogosphere and the 2004
U.S. Election: Divided They Blog
By Lada Adamic and Natalie Glance
e-democracy.org

Connect
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Connect the Word
• Blog
• Forum
• Online News/Blog
Comments
• Chat
• Social Network
• Online
Consultation
• Online Working
Group
• Web Feed
e-democracy.org 46

Creating City Hall
Public Space - Local Media
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Conclusion
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Discussion Questions
• What is so essential from local and
state government that it needs to be
accessible 24 x 7 online?
– With options for
• What’s new?
• What’s changed?
• What’s important (or what others think is
important)?
• Who is trying to change/influence it?
e-democracy.org

Discussion Questions
• (How) Will this make things “better?”
What’s the outcome that justifies the
investment in resources to make the
best aspects of e-democracy
universal?
– Best Practices v. Legal Mandates
– Representative v. Participatory
Democracy
– Informed v. Activated (Protest, etc.) v.
Citizen Problem-solving/volunteerism
e-democracy.org

Links to Everything
• From:
–http://stevenclift.com
e-democracy.org

Extra Slides
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Digital Parade – Social Networks
e-democracy.org

FYI - Briefs and Case Studies
• Briefs
• Case Studies
– Advanced Web Comment
– Canadian International
Forms
Policy eDiscussions
– Budget Proposals Online
– Community Blogging -
– Content Syndication
Northfield, Minnesota
– Community Portals
– Community Forums and
News in Subang Jaya - – Democracy Portal
Malaysia – Democratized Navigation
– Listening to the City - New – Elected Official Videos
York City
– E-mail Response Policy
– Madrid Participa
– E-Newsletters
– NordPol - Northern
– E-Notification
Denmark
– Geographic Personalisation
– Queensland's E-democracy
– M-Democracy - Mobile
Leadership
Content
– Seoul's Online Policy
– SMS Citizen Input
Forum
– Voter Education Online
– Seattle's Online Civic
– Wireless Internet
Engagement Initiative
http://dowire.org/wiki/UK_highl
ights
e-democracy.org

Recent Articles
• Ten Practical Online Steps for
Government Support of Democracy
– Part of new 47 page U.S. government
publication about e-democracy titled,
“How E-Government is Changing
Society and Strengthening
Democracy.”
• Also see - UK Local E-Democracy Project – See:
www.icele.org
e-democracy.org

Government Support for
Democracy Online
1. Timely, personalized access to
information that matters.
2. Help e-officials receive, sort and
better understand and respond to
e-mail.
e-democracy.org

Government Support for
Democracy Online
3. Dedicate at least 10% of new
e-government developments to
democracy.
– Not “services first, democracy later.”
9. Fund open source sharing
internationally across government.
e-democracy.org

Government Support for
Democracy Online
4. Announce all government public
meetings on the Internet in a
uniform matter.
5. Allow all people to look-up all of their
elected officials from the very local
to national in one search.
6. Host online public hearings and
dialogues
e-democracy.org

Government Support for
Democracy Online
7. Embrace the rule of law by
mandating the most democratically
empowering online services and
rights across the whole of
government.
– Open meeting laws, ethics information
8. Promote dissemination through
access to raw data from decision-
making information systems.
e-democracy.org

Government Support for
Democracy Online
10. Local up – Build a strategic
approach to building local
democracy online
– Absolute need for non-partisan,
convening approaches
– Government, media, universities,
non-profits, business all must
contribute something
– Public interest use “of” the Internet not
just “on” it
e-democracy.org